This invention relates to bird hunting, and more particularly to an anchor assembly for use with a waterfowl decoy for bird hunting.
Decoys are often used by bird hunters to attract or lure the waterfowl within shooting range. Such decoys are most often deployed in a body of water in a location most likely to attract ducks and such. Often times the decoys have the appearance of a waterfowl; they are held in place by an anchor that keeps the decoys in place in the water. Decoys can be anchored by tying a string to them and providing a small weight at the end of the string.
More elaborate decoys are provided with a reel for holding the string, with the reel positioned in the body of the decoy. A cutout is made in the body of the decoy and the reel is positioned in the open cavity. A weighted anchor is attached to the end of the string and is thrown overboard to deploy the decoy. If the reel is unbalanced the buoyant decoy will not float properly in the water, rendering the entire assembly useless to the hunter. Other known devices include reel mechanisms attached to the bottom of the decoy, with a weighted anchor suspended therefrom.
While these decoy systems may work satisfactory in some circumstances, there is a need for a simple anchor assembly that can be interchangeably secured to any decoy and that can retain the reel with the anchor line within the anchor housing. Often times, the anchor lines become entangled as the decoys are stored prior to and after deployment and retrieval from water. Untangling these lines is time-consuming. Since the hunters usually use more than one decoy, the time spent in untangling the anchor lines is multiplied by the number of decoys used by the hunter.
The present invention contemplates elimination of drawbacks associated with conventional decoys and provision of a waterfowl decoy anchor assembly that uses the anchor body for housing a reel with the anchor line and that can be stored separately from the decoy, thereby eliminating the danger of entangled lines.